Transcendentalism is to find your inner self and deepest intuitions in nature. Out of John Krakauer the author of Into the Wild and Christopher McCandless, who has more transcendentalist ideas? I believe Mcandless has far more transcendentalist ideas than Krakauer, due to Mcandless’s hate for society, his self-reliance, and his true connection with nature.
First of all, McCandless has a hatred towards society and as a result stays away from it as much as he can, while on the other hand, Krakauer fully supports and relies on society. In Ralph Waldo Emerson’s Self-Reliance, he mentions, “Society everywhere is in a conspiracy against the manhood of every one of its members. Society is a joint-stock company in which the members agree, for
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In Emerson’s Self Reliance, he mentions “every heart vibrates to that iron string” (Source C). The meaning of this quote is for everyone to rely on their own decisions, you should be completely self-reliant and should not let any third party influence you. From the start of McCandless's adventure he makes his own decisions, never letting anyone tell him what to do, even when it was helpful. When people offered him supplies he would either respectfully decline the offer, or leave it behind. Rarely ever accepting it. On the other hand, Krakauer had to rely on other people. Krakauer wrote, “I had paid a bush pilot in Petersburg $150- the last of my cash- to have six cardboard cartons of supplies dropped from an airplane when I reached the foot of the Thumb” (source A 140). While Mcandles rarely accepts help Krakauer hires a pilot to have “supplies” dropped off for him. Krakauer is not self-reliant like McCandless. McCandless accepts help when people bother him enough. When McCandless was in Alaska he was fully self-reliant, hunting and gathering supplies. Krakauer needs to rely on others to bring him his supplies. Mcandless doesn’t have to rely on others like Krakauer did, in fact, one of Mcandless's biggest concerns was not being fully